Trapped in a Room

A couple of weeks ago, one of our associate pastors gave an illustration that resonated with me. I'll probably never remember the sermon, but I'll always remember the illustration and have already repeated it to several people (and maybe modified it just a little :).

Whenever you are walking through a trial (and don't we know that sometimes we LIVE in the trial and feel like we are not even walking through it!), sometimes, it feels like we are in a high room somewhere with the door locked and we feel like we will NEVER GET OUT IT and we FEEL ALL ALONE!   Then suddenly, we see God climbing a ladder to the window of our room and we may even think, "look He's coming to rescue me from this trial."  When God reaches the window, he steps inside and rather than rescuing us, he sits down beside us and stays there with us.  We may want the trial to go away but sometimes He wants us to see that He is near and it's only through the trial that we can experience this nearness of God.

This helps us to truly understand what it means to when God says, Fear Not for I am WITH YOU!  No matter the trial, we don't have a God who does not understand our situations nor does He leave us to flounder around in our messes; but rather, we have a God who is relational, who sits with us and holds us in the palm of His hand   How personal is that?  How loving and kind is that?  It's something I've known and been told a thousand times since I was a child but walking in the middle of a mess, it's a great reminder that he's in the room with me!